Sunday, June 14, 2009

Blueberry Banana Nut Bread Recipe

The party was a success. We had over sixty people, including lots of kids in the pool.

The surprise was how much people liked my brownie alternative, Blueberry Banana Nut Bread. I was asked for the recipe, so here it is:

1/2 cup margarine or butter (I tend to blend them for a better baking taste, but it probably doesn't really matter).

1 cup sugar

2 eggs.

Melt the shortening, blend with sugar and eggs.

2 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup Wheaties or 1/4 cup bran

2 regular size bananas

Blend in until the bananas are no longer forming any lumps and the Wheaties are broken up enough that they are like bran (you can crush the Wheaties pre-blending if you prefer to do it that way).

3 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Mix separately and then blend in with the banana mix.

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla

1 cup to 1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (depends how much you like nuts)

Blend into the banana/flour mix

Spoon about a third in a layer into a 9x13 glass pan. Half the recipe if you want to use a smaller pan.

Coat with blueberries one berry deep.

Spoon over the blueberries the remainder.

Cook at 325 degrees for an hour. 350 degrees if a metal pan. Can be served cold or hot. Vanilla ice cream goes well with it when cold.

It was surprisingly well received. I like the effect the oats had on the flavor (most recipes call for no oats and a lot of bran and I'm not as fond of them). Heather saved a little for breakfast the next day and reported that it was still good the day after.

I'm looking forward to the next party at our house. We really enjoyed this one.